Tobacco elevator



Dec. 18, 1956 s. o. YOUNG 2,774,461

TOBACCO ELEVATOR Filed March 22, 1954 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR gian ley 0. y'l

ATTORYEYS' Dec. 18, 1956 s. o. YOUNG 2,774,451

TOBACCO ELEVATOR Filed March 22, 1954 2 sheets-sheet 2 26 60 22 4 A A42 .5a/* FIG. 2. O

Isf"- INVENTOR gnieyyoawf ATTORNEKS United States VPatent TOBACCO ELEVATOR Stanley Oral Young, Copper, Ky.

APPlCafipll March 2.2, 1,954,.Se.l.'211N0 417,790 1 Claim. (Cl. 19.89139.)

L'My invention relates to elevators and the like and more particularly .to a tobacco elevator which .is adapted to elevate tobacco sticks in a barn.

It is well known in .the tobacco growing art that when thetobacco plants have ripened in the eld they are .cut and speered on elongated sticks .for .convenient .Storing Y1u the vdrying barn. .It `is usual .to `Store ,a great number 0f .the sticks Yin .the .extreme .upper portion of the barn .and

since each stick usually Contains six or eight plants with each plant having fteen or twenty leaves, the sticks weigh in the neighborhood of thirty or forty pounds each. Con- Sequently, iS is .a dangerous aud laborious task, requiring several laborers, to manually elevate the tobacco sticks from the ground up to the top Aof thestoring barn.

The primary purpose of my invention is the Vprovision v.of a power actuated elevating mechanism whieh Wlllrperform' the Vlaborious task of elevating the tobacco sticks from the ground to the top `of .the barn so as to overtcome thedangers and diiculties mentioned above.

A further object of my invention is the provision of a tobacco stick elevating mechanism which `may Aoperate at .various adjusted vertical Apositions s o that it may be utilized throughout the entire area of Va ,barn having a slanted roof.

YA still further object ,of my invention is the provision of a tobacco elevator which may be easily operated, is simple Yin construction `and can be economically produced.

A still further object of my invention lis `the provision of an elevator having an adjustable chain conveyor which lis adapted to be operated at different heights by adjusting the .length of the chain conveyor.

Still another object of the invention is `the provision of a tobacco elevator which is V adapted to Vbe powered by the conventional power take-off of a tractor.

These and other objects Y of my vinvention will become more apparent vduring the course of the following vdeseriptlou naud appended claim.

The invention may best be Yunderstood lwith .reference 1o the accompanying ndrawings wherein lone illustrative embodiment of thejinvention is shown. In the drawings:

Figure l is Ya front elevational Vview illustrating the preferred embodiment of my invention;

Figure 2 is a View taken along the line 2-2 of Figure t1; -and 'Figure 3 is la view .taken along the line '3-3 of figure 2.

Referring now to the drawings, indicates a portable frame upon which the tobacco elevator of my invention is mounted. The frame 10 preferably includes an undercarriage 12 composed of a plurality of metal tubes welded together to form a generally rectangular base having its forward corners cut off. Mounted on top of the undercarriage 12 is a wooden platform 14 extending in substantially a horizontal plane. Extending from opposite sides of the undercarriage are a pair of crank axles 16 having mounted on the outer ends thereof a pair of supporting wheels 1S. The forward portion of the underlCC 2 carriage 12 is provided with a clevis 19 which is adapted to be hitched to the draw bar of a conventional tractor.

Fixedly `mounted on the central portion of the platform 14 is an upwardly extending elongated tubular support 24). The lower -end of the support 20 is fixedly secured to the platform 14 preferably by means of angle brackets 22 bolted or otherwise secured to the support 20 and platform 14. In order to steady the upper end of the support 20, a plurality of braces 24 may be secured between the corners of the platform 14 and -the upper end yof lthe support 20.

Mounted within the elongated tubular support 20 for raising and lowering movement with respect thereto is a pair of elongated, tubular telescoping members 26 Vand 28. The lower tubular telescoping member 26 has its outside diameter slightly less than the inside diameter of the tubular support so as to set snugly therein. The upper tubular Vtelescoping member 28 has its outside diameter slightly less Vthan the inside Vdiameter of the member 26 Aand is adapted 'to telescope therein. The lower tubular telescoping member 26 has an elongated longitudinal slot V30 extending substantially throughout the length thereof `and a transverse handle 32 extends outwardly from the lower end of the telescoping member 28 through .the slot 30. Tubular support 26 also is provided with a long'- `tudinal elongated slot 34 which extends substantially throughout its length and is aligned with the slot 30 of the lower .telescoping member 26 for extension of the handle therethrough. The handle 32 serves as a means for preventing rotation between the telescoping members and the support and also as a means to extend and retract the upper telescoping member 28 within the lower member 26. For the purpose of holding the telescoping members in extended relationship, the lower telescoping member 26 is provided with aperture 36 in its upper portion opposite lthe slot 30 which is adapted to receive the inner end of the handle 32. The handle 32 is mounted in the member 28 for transverse sliding movement for the purpose of permitting the inner end thereof to enter aperture 36. While the holding means, above described, is the preferred embodiment, it is to be understood that other means may be utilized to maintain the telescoping members in extended position.

Means generally indicated at 38 are provided for raising and lowering the telescoping members 26 and 28 together with respect to lthe support 20. Such means preferably include a cable, pulley and winch assembly, however, other means may be utilized. Mounted on the platform 14 is a winch frame 40 carrying a conventional winch device which includes a cable spool 42, a crank 44 and a conventional ratchet and gear, not shown. A cable 46 has one end wrapped around spool 42 and then extends over a pulley48 mounted on the upper end of the plat- `form 2l) from where opposite end is secured to a pin 59 mounted on the vlower end of the lower telescoping member 26 and extending through slot 34 in support 20.

The upper end of the telescoping member 23 has mounted thereon a horizontal shaft 52 which carries a sprocket wheel 54. A lower shaft 56, journaled in bearings 5S mounted on platform 14, extends through the lower end of thesupport 20 and has a sprocket wheel 60 mounted thereon so as to be disposed within slots 62 cut into the lower end of the support Ztl and platform 14 respectively. Extending around the sprocket wheels 54 and 66 is an endless chain conveyor 64 composed of a series of detachable links 66. Spaced along the links 66 are a plurality of angularly extending hook-like elements 68 which are adapted to engage conventional tobacco sticks 70 so as to elevate the same.

Mounted on one end of the shaft 56 to extend through a suitable slot in the platform 14 is a pulley 72 carrying :one end of a belt 74, the other end of which is adapted Y toV be mounted on the conventional power take-olf of a tractor, not shown. A belt tightener 76 may be provided to maintain the belt in a taut condition.

Y Operation A As was mentionedV above, myelevator is' particularly adapted foruse in elevating tobacco sticks vto the upper portion of a barn utilized to store the tobacco. It will be readily'understood that the upper portion of a barn is a great deal higher thany any entrance thereto and consequently, in order for the elevator to be moved into and out of the barn, it must becapable of being retracted into a position such that its Vertical heightV will permit its'entry through the doorway. It is also essential that the elevator, once it is inside the barn, be capable of extension to a height suthcient to reach the uppermost portion of the barn. Likewise, since it is a common construction toV slant the roof of the barn I Yfor proper drainage, it is essential that theoperating height of the elevator be vertically adjustable between the position whereby the elevator may pass through the doorway and the fully extended position so as to render it operable at intermediate heights for working in areas where the roof of the barn is lower than the fully extended height of the conveyor. Y

With the above in mind, it will be readily understood that my tobacco elevator is drawn through the doorway of a barn by a tractor with the'telescoping members 26 and V2? fully retracted with respect toV each other and wi-th respect to the support 20. Once the elevator is moved inside the'barn, the winch, cable and pulley raist Ving and lowering means are actuated Vto raise the telescoping members together to a suitable working height.V

are carried upwardly by the elements lwhere they are grasped by a workman in the upper portion of the barn and placed in position for storing.

When it is necessary to reach the upper portion of the barn :at a point where the roof is highest, the telescoping members 26 and 28 are rst fully extended by an opera'- tor grasping the handle 32 and raising the telescoping member 2S until the handle 32 moves into engagement with the aperture 36 where it is heldin Yextended position. The telescoping members may then be raised Vtogether I am familiar with the tobacco elevator disclosed in U. S. Patent No.V 2,533,813, issued to J. Mfloneson December 12, 1950, however, my tobacco elevator provides many distinct advantages over the tobacco elevator described by Jones. For example, my elevator overcomes the limitations apparent in the I ones tobacco elevator which is adapted toroperate in only one vertical position Wherein the conveyor is fully extended Vand accordingly, is useful only in that area vof a slanted roof Y barn where the height of the Yroof is sucient to permit the conveyor to Vfully extend. With myelevator, as can be seenfrom theV above description, operationmay take place in any area of the barn and is not restricted Yto that area where the roof is higher than the full extent e of the conveyor.

e From the above, it canbe seen that I have provided a tobacco conveyor which is capable of operation in a plurality of Yvertical positions and which overcomes the diticulties of tobacco elevators' heretofore ,-known.

Y The'elevator includes a minimum number of parts which may. be easily and economically assembled and operated with a minimum of workersV with maximum safety;

`It is to beunderstood, however, that theform ot,V the invention herewith Vshown and described is to be taken f as the preferred embodiment of Ythe same and that various changes may be made without departing from the spirit of the invention'or'the scope of the appended claim. i ,d

I claim:

A Ytobacco elevator comprising'a wheeled iframe' an elongated tubular support ixed'to said frame and extending upwardly` therefrom, said support having a longitudinal slot extending downwardly from the upper end thereof, upper andrlower telescoping members mounted wi-thin said elongated tubular Vsupport for raising `and lowering movement with respect thereto, said lower telescoping member being tubular and having a longitudinal slot formedV therein intermediaterits ends in alignment with the `longitudinal slot of said Atubular support, aV pin extending transversely outwardly from "the lower end of said lower telescopingmember Ythrough said support slot, said upper telescoping member being tubular and having a transverse handle extending from thelower portion thereof outwardly through said aligned slots, aperture means von'said lower `telescoping member cooperating with said handle yfor holding rsaid upper telescoping member in vertically adjusted position with respect to said lower telescoping member, means on said frame connectedwith said pin for Yraising and lowering said telescoping members within said support while said telescoping members are held in a rela-tive adjusted posiinto any Vvertical osition b the raisin and lov/erin;y l

means 38. After a suitable position is reached, the endless chain conveyor is then prepared'for operation by removing or adding appropriate links. i

It is to be noted that the raising and lowering means is such that the endless conveyor 615Y can be made taut at any given length thereof depending on the number of links connected together. Consequently, the elevator may be operated at any adjusted vertical position corresponding to the number of links in the chain between the limi-ts of the extended and retracted positions of the telescoping members and support 20.

Y tion and an'endless chain conveyor extending between the bottom of'said support and the top of said upper telescoping member, said endless chain Vbeing adjustable in length so as to operate at different heights within a slanted roof barn in accordance with the, relativeY adjustment of said telescoping members andV their vertical Vposition with respect to said support.

References Cited in the tile of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,381,663 Roeder .Jima 14, 1921 2,533,813 Jones Dec.V 12, 1950 2,672,319

Nelson Mar. 16, 1954 

